Poll: ISIS More Popular in France than in Gaza

One in six French residents like the idea of a "caliphate" run by Islamist group ISIS.

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Yaakov Levi, 28/08/14 08:30

ISIS fighter in Raqqa, Syria

Reuters

A poll of French opinion on Islamist group ISIS (also known as ISIL) show one out of ever six residents of the country as having a positive view of the terror group. Sixteen percent of French residents said that they would support the establishment of an Islamic “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, and perhaps beyond.

French residents expressed the highest percentage of support for the Islamist group among residents of the three European countries polled on the issue – and in fact, more French residents as a percentage of the population support ISIS than do residents of Gaza, where only 13% of the population said they would be happy to see an Islamist state in the Middle East.

Also polled were residents of the UK, where 7% said they were supporters of ISIS, and Germany, where only 2% expressed approval. The poll was taken by ICM Research on behalf of Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya.

The poll also queried residents of the European countries on their attitude to ISIS. Broken down by age, 27% of French residents 18-24 years of age said they had a positive attitude to the group, as did 22% of 24-34 year olds, and 20% of 25-44 year olds. In the UK, those numbers by age group were 4%, 6%, and 11% respectively. Among Germans, barely 3% of any age group saw ISIS in a positive manner.

In both France and Germany, about two thirds of residents see ISIS in an unfavorable light; 82% of Germans also had a very negative view of the group. The poll also showed 85% of Gazans as being opposed to ISIS.

The polling group noted that Europeans and Gazans were asked “slightly different” questions. It should be noted as well that the vast majority of Gazans were not opposed to terrorism against Israel; 93% said they did not support “disarming the Palestinian resistance” if the matter were to come up during negotiations between Israel and the Gaza terror group, because those arms were needed to fight Israel.